I remember my first attempts at teaching my daughter the concept of opposites. She was barely three.

Me: Tall is the opposite of short. Short is the opposite of Tall. If you are not short, then you are tall. So...if you are not tall, then you are...??She (loudly and with much exuberance): FAT!!!

Fat may not be the opposite of tall but short and fat may just be the most apt description for me right now. I am reading a book about detoxifying your whole life: from your body to your mind to your house to your relationship. It reads like a fairy tale to me. While the detox foods are not an issue, where am I going to get peace and quiet? A luxurious soak or aromatherapy in the bath? Sleep early? Meditate? Relax? Quiet music? Without having a little body jump on mine and chatter incessantly. Sigh. The book says weekend detox with friends is an excellent idea. I don't know anyone who isn't in the same boat. Perhaps there is some magic to the weekends in Sedona, after all. Sedona! Now that's a thought!

Anti-thesis to all that is my longing for an easy to make snack or appetizer. I had a tub of cream cheese with onion and chives and I also had some pepper jack cheese. It reminded me of cheese balls that I had eaten with great relish at a friend's party. Why not?

Zippy Cheese Balls

1 tub (8 oz) Philadelphia Chive & Onion Cream Cheese Spread

8 oz Pepper Jack Cheese, grated

1/3 cup toasted walnuts, crushed coarsely

Mix the cream cheese and the grated Pepper Jack cheese until well blended.

Shape into balls about the size of a dollar coin. I usually get about 50 cheeseballs from this mixture.

Roll in the crushed walnuts

Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour so that the cheese balls recover from the warmth generated by the blending of the cheeses, the shaping and rolling.

When they have firmed up enough, stick a toothpick into them and serve as appetizers or with crackers as snacks.

We love to have these with Tostitos chips. There are times when I've added finely chopped green chillies to this cheesy mixture. Oh! The zing is incredible!

13
comments:

Shyama
said...

Noooooooo Manisha! Don't do this to me!Here am I *trying* to keep to a gameplan of a diet and up you pop a mouthwatering photo. How do you whip up such stuff seemingly out of nowhere?! And the kind of ingredients you seem to keep at home!!!I LOVE cheese:-(. And they look so terribly yum too! (muttering to myself...diet...diet Shyama..diet)

Shyamey! I had these at a friend's party. She had used mozarella cheese. I thought it could do with some pepping up, therefore the pepper jack cheese.

I had neighbors over for dinner last week so I had a bunch of stuff in my fridge, which I didn't do anything with cos - gasp! - I ran out of time. My garbage disposal backed up and I had to spend a fair amount of time on that - so I didn't make this hors d'oeuvre. I didn't make the salad either. Instead I just put some spring greens out and a bottle of dressing. Luckily they (even 3 little girls) liked the dinner so much that no-one noticed that anything was missing!

I'm used to storing a fair amount of supplies. It's just become a habit since grocery stores weren't close by, nor were Indian stores. That has changed since we moved but I buy certain things only from some stores so it's just easier to stock up. Plus, I shop at warehouses like Sam's Club where you have to buy in bulk. To add to it, we have large refrigerators here.

Before I bought a double-door LG back in India, I used to have one of those small Kelvinator things. I wonder now how I ever managed. But then we bought fresh veggies every other day. No such luck here.

Ah! That explains all those exotic stuff you seem to store! I still have one of those Kelvinator thingies, actually a Whirlpool thingie:-).Plus we get fresh veggies and fish and you know me, I'm more conveniently accustomed to drooling over pics than attempting to putting them together at home. Lazy me!

Of late I've begun "collecting" spices and dressings, what with the "inspiration", God knows what I'll do with them, but those bottles look so pretty upon the shelves!:-)

Manesha,This recipe sounds terrific, i am sure it is going to taste even better. I love chive n onion spread and i love eating pepper jack on its own, both put together, what a sinful ( try...ing to d..ie..t ) fantastic indulgence it is going to be !!!! Can't wait to try it.Archana

anna_parabrahma, welcome! Do try them out! They're very addictive! And I like your blog very much! Till I saw your blog, I thought of you as Anna. Then like a tubelight with a real slow starter, I got it! And I agree, anna parabrahma, always!!